


Quake Squared II: "Why Can't We Be More Emily Post Than Andrew Dice Clay?"

by BradyGirl_12



Series: Quake Squared [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Het Relationship, Established Relationship, Etiquette, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance, Series, manners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-22 12:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30038412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BradyGirl_12/pseuds/BradyGirl_12
Summary: Is civility dead?
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Series: Quake Squared [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112525
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Quake Squared II: "Why Can't We Be More Emily Post Than Andrew Dice Clay?"

**Author's Note:**

> Original DW/LJ Date Of Completion: February 21, 2021  
> Original DW/LJ Date Of Posting: March 20, 2021  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, Marvel and Paramount do, more’s the pity.  
> Original DW/LJ Word Count: 942  
> Feedback welcome and appreciated.  
> Author’s Note: The entire series can be found [here.](https://bradygirl-12.livejournal.com/928731.html)

_Grace and style_  
_Never go away_.  
_They always remain_  
_For the day._

_Charm_  
_Does no harm._

  


**Lady Beatrice Ashley**  
**_"Gilded Poems"_**  
**1867 C.E.**

  
“Why are people so uncivil these days?”

Daisy looked up from the S.H.I.E.L.D. tactical manual she had been reading and regarded Daniel Sousa, her lover and Man Out Of Time (copyright Steve Rogers), with curiosity.

“Uncivil?”

“Rude.”

Daisy frowned. “Has someone been rude to you?”

Daniel was reading a book on 20th century American history, which he set aside on the couch. “I’m talking society in general.” He tapped the book. “Things began to break down in the late ‘60s, didn’t they?”

“So I’ve heard.”

“So why do people like to…” He flipped through the book’s pages “…‘get in your face’?”

“Well, I guess people like the honesty of it.” Daisy made herself more comfortable in her overstuffed chair. She had a feeling that this was going to be a long conversation.

“Honesty? Isn’t it more rude-and-crude?”

“Why? Did you all bow and tip your hats in the ‘50s?”

“As a matter of fact, we did. The hat-tipping, at least.”

Daisy crossed her legs. “People didn’t want polite fictions anymore.” ‘Letting it all hang out’ was a way of getting more honesty in society.”

“Polite fictions?”

“Yeah, the phony veneer of politeness. Kind of a hypocrisy, the counterculture thought.”

Daniel looked surprised. “You believe that?”

Daisy squirmed a little. “To some extent.”

“Uh huh.” Daniel was thinking. That could be interesting, Daisy thought.

“I have to tell you, Daisy, that the era I came from was far from perfect. We’re talking words like Auschwitz and Treblinka entering the lexicon, and anybody traveling through the Deep South could tell you hair-raising tales. A lot of things have improved since then, but not everything, and some things have gotten worse, and civility is one of them.”

“People tend to be hypocritical with false politeness.”

“No, it’s just being civilized.” Daniel leaned forward earnestly. “We all show different faces in different situations. Do you act the same with family as you do your co-workers?”

“My co-workers _are_ my family.”

“Okay, bad example for you, but most people do act differently at work and at home, and differently with friends, and, yes, I know, your friends are your co-workers and family.” 

Daisy laughed. “Go on.” She loved Earnest Daniel.

“I just mean that showing a different face in public isn’t hypocritical, it’s normal.” Exasperation tinged Daniel’s voice. “Do people really like four-letter words being flung all over the place? In the 1950s men didn’t swear in what was called ‘mixed company’.”

“So they were all Sir Galahads.”

“Hardly. The 21st century didn’t invent swearing, but men did it only in all-male settings. Gentlemen didn’t swear in front of ladies.”

“What about behind closed doors?”

“Depended on the guy.”

“What about women?”

“Women weren’t supposed to swear, but behind closed doors or with just other women? They could make stevedores blush.” Reminiscence tinged his voice. “Peggy Carter was a lady, but she knew a few choice off-color words.”

Daisy pumped a fist and Daniel rolled his eyes. “See, Danny, we just cut out the middleman.”

“Yeah, but a certain level of decorum in public can promote respect for other people. Does ‘letting it all hang out’ encourage respect? Isn’t it kind of selfish?”

Daisy shook her head. “It allows for individual expression.”

Daniel remained unconvinced. “Why can’t we be more Emily Post than Andrew Dice Clay?”

Daisy laughed. “Andrew Dice Clay?”

“Hey, I’m working my way through celebrities.”

“Okay, Hedda Hopper.”

“Looks like someone’s been reading up on Hollywood history,” Daniel said with a smile.

“How else to connect with you, my dear?” Daisy said smugly.

Daniel shook his head fondly. “I just think it wouldn’t hurt American society to be a little less ‘in your face’ and a little more ‘how do you do’.”

It was Daisy’s turn to lean forward. “Honey, your generation went through the Great Depression and the call was to come together to survive. Then World War II erupted and more collective ‘we’re in this together’. After the war, a brief respite, then the Cold War and once again ‘rally ‘round the flag, boys,’ with the peacetime draft and the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and the ‘burbs on the Levittown plan.

“The Baby Boomers rebelled against all that, against nine-to-five and working at one company for forty years and getting a gold watch for your trouble and against another Asian land war. And the counterculture just wanted ‘to tell it like it is’, and that meant street theater and ‘Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?’ ”

Daisy shrugged. “So we just go on with crude-and-rude?”

“The genie’s out of the bottle.”

“Barbara Eden.”

“Huh?”

“She’s a genie.” He smiled. “I passed through ‘60s TV awhile ago.” 

“She’s a Jeannie, all right.”

“How about you cross your arms and blink once for me?”

Daisy smirked. “For more civility?”

“I wouldn’t mind. Hey, I’d settle for the harem outfit.”

Daisy stood up and did an impromptu belly dance. “Should I be polite about this?”

Daniel looked at her appreciatively. “Maybe not _too_ polite.”

Daisy danced suggestively to the bedroom. Daniel followed and hummed, “I dream of Jeannie…” while Daisy collapsed on the bed in laughter. 

“You’re precious, Danny Boy.”

“So are you, darlin’.”

“Enough harem sexiness for you?” Daisy moved sensuously on the bed.

Daniel unbuttoned his shirt. “Just about.”

He kicked off his shoes and climbed on the bed. Daisy was always impressed by her old-fashioned lover’s prowess in bed. Excitement pulsed through her as Daniel kissed her passionately.

Civility was out the window.


End file.
